New stretch target

Any extra funds will go directly into paying all artists a London Living Wage, as well as making the design elements of the show even more magical.

In A Nutshell...

Award-nominated theatre company Space Productions need your help to bring Rachael Claye's beautiful new script, The Lighthouse, to life this Christmas.

About The Play

The Lighthouse is a beautiful new play written by local resident Rachael Claye. This original Christmas story sees St Nikolas crash his sleigh on an iceberg far out at sea on Christmas Eve. Deprived of his ancient powers, Nikolas is forced to accept rescue from a little girl in a rowing boat, Rose. When she takes him to the lighthouse where she is living alone, he begins to question his life at the frozen edge of the world.

About Space Productions

The Space is a unique performance venue located on the Isle of Dogs providing for the diverse communities of Tower Hamlets and attracting audiences from all over London. Our focus as a venue centres on creating opportunities for new performers, writers, directors and designers.

Since it’s creation in 2006, our in-house theatre company Space Productions has staged 20 productions to date. These include The Graduate, Festen, A Doll's House and, most recently, Hamlyn and Vernon God Little, both of which were supported by the Arts Council. The company has to date received six Off-West End nominations and our work continues to generate an overwhelmingly positive response from audiences and critics.

The Lighthouse will be an exciting new venture for us. This magical Christmas show is perfect for all the family, and a piece of new writing unlike anything out there on the London Fringe.

The Story So Far - And How You Can Help!

The Lighthouse began its journey back in February 2014, where it was given a rehearsed reading at the Space. After a fantastic reception, the Space Productions team began an Arts Council funded research and development process to see whether a full production of such a magical story was possible to stage at the Space.

Phase 1 saw the company exploring the play and its characters and relationships from a dramaturgical perspective. An ‘on-book’ rehearsed reading was presented to an invited audience of local young people and adults, as well as travelling up the road to George Green's School for feedback from their students.

In Phase 2 sound, lighting and set designers joined the company to explore the plays’ technically and physically demanding elements - for example, how on earth do you create a reindeer onstage?! After a lot of work - and some brilliant ideas - we decided on a section of the play and a cohesive design to take forward to Phase 3.

Phase 3 saw a realisation of a twenty-minute section at the Space. The designers spent one day preparing the section of the play before the company spent three days rehearsing. The twenty minute section was performed twice – both to an audience of local community members, and to an industry showcase for theatre professionals, potential partners and producers. We also created a beautiful trailer, which you can watch right here on our Crowdfunder page.

But we're hoping that that isn't the end of the story quite yet! We got incredible audience feedback from the final twenty-minute showcase and we're more determined than ever to bring The Lighthouse - in full - to the Isle of Dogs.

Your donations will go directly into bringing the project to life. The £1500 we're hoping to raise will go towards:

- Paying all artists involved a London Living Wage

- Set, costume, props and sound and lighting equipment to fully realise the magical potential of the script

- Marketing help to spread the word about the show far and wide

- A dedicated outreach programme to local schools, where exciting workshops and learning opportunities will be offered alongside the production.